The document provides a timeline and overview of literature in the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines from 1521-1869. It notes key dates such as the start of Spanish colonization in 1521, the opening of international trade in 1834 and the Suez Canal in 1869, and the printing of the first book in the Philippines in 1593. It then profiles several important colonial writers such as Francisco de San Jose, Jose dela Cruz, Francisco Balagtas, Pedro Paterno, Jose Rizal, Graciano Lopez-Jaena, Marcelo Del Pilar, Andres Bonifacio, and Emilio Jacinto and their significant works and contributions to Philippine literature during this time period.

1. Literature in the Spanish
Colonial Period
An Overview

2. Brief Timeline
 1521 was the year the Spanish
colonizers came
◦ the start of the rule of the “cross and the
sword”
◦ Half a century later, colonization and
evangelization, through Miguel Lopez de
Legaspi and Fray Andres Urdaneta
respectively

3. Brief Timeline
 1834
◦ International trade opened
 1869
◦ Opening of the Suez Canal
 Event leads to burgeoning of agricultural
industry
◦ Carlos Ma. De la Torre, a sympathetic
governor-general, was
appointed, opening up a movement led by
middle class for reforms

4. Brief Timeline
 1593, the year when Doctrina
Christiana, was printed, first book ever
printed in the country

5. Notes on Spanish
Colonization
 The use of faith (Christian) to supplant
the existing native, local belief
◦ Politics and religion were already mixing
at that time!
 Colonial strategy was to undermine
oral tradition
 The Spaniards eventually hired
translators for the instructional
materials, marking the beginning of
“Indio” literacy

6. Colonial Writers of Philippine
Literature
 Francisco de San Jose, Fernando
Bagong Banta and Gaspar Aquino de
Belen
◦ Translators of Spanish texts
◦ The most famous is de Belen, a poet
translator who wrote the Tagalog version
for the Passion of Christ

7. Colonial Writers of Philippine
Literature
 Jose dela Cruz
◦ The foremost proponent of komedya
◦ His appeal to the non-literate was
universal

8. Colonial Writers of Philippine
Literature
 Francisco Baltazar
◦ Also known as “Balagtas”
◦ Acknowledged master of traditional poetry
◦ Was a child of the global bourgeois
revolution, thanks largely to the Industrial
Revolution
◦ Best known for his work, Florante at Laura
about tyranny in Albania

9. Colonial Writers of Philippine
Literature
 Pedro Paterno
◦ Wrote Ninay, first Filipino novel and
written in Spanish

10. Colonial Writers of Philippine
Literature
 Jose Rizal
◦ chose realistic novel as his medium
◦ Chose prose over poetry, challenging
figurative tradition set by Balagtas
◦ Famous for his works Noli Me Tangere
and El Filibusterismo

11. Colonial Writers of Philippine
Literature
 Graciano Lopez-Jaena and Marcelo
Del Pilar
◦ Liberal Reformists
◦ Formed the Propaganda Movement, and
printed works that were considered
subversive

12. Colonial Writers of Philippine
Literature
 Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Jacinto
◦ Writers and social critics
REVOLUTIONARIES!